Happy New Year

There are just too many choices of end of year recap/new year prediction/favorite things/best of kinds of blog posts--the possibilities are overwhelming me and taking away any urge to post at all. So I'm just going to do a hodge-podge of random end of year/new year things and hope for the best.

Best Things of 2009

1. My Macbook. I could pretty much stop this list right here--that's how good it is.

It is, in fact, so good that I can't think of any other best thing of the year. I'll have to come back to that part.

Resolutions for 2010

1. See 2 movies in 1 day. I was originally going to go for 3 movies in 1 day, but I think that's a bit much for me, so I'm going to settle for 2.

Again, I'm coming up dry...that's the only resolution I can think of right now.

Favorite blog posts of 2009

1. Ask And Ye Shall Receive review of this blog. Call me a masochist but I love this review, even though it's totally reaming me up the a$$ for being a crappy blogger.


2. What if Your Personal Brand is your P*ssy. Sorry but if that's not the best title of a blog post ever, I don't know what is.


3. Gen Whine in the House. I haven't gotten that riled up about something in a while.


4. I Used to be Way Funnier. Sadly, it's true.

That said, maybe I should add to my list of resolutions that I'll try to go back to blogging about stuff other than social media. Then again, the only time anyone other than my mom and sister read my posts is when I blog about social media. Sigh.

At any rate, to any of you reading this post now, I wish you a fabulous, healthy 2010. (pronounced two thousand ten; not twenty ten, just fyi.)

Tiger Again

I usually don't read the Washington Post Sports section but this morning--as he was eating the delicious breakfast squares I made (in case you follow me on Twitter or Facebook and all my cooking/baking of late is confusing you, this is the one time of year when I suddenly am seized with the desire to cook and bake so I do it a lot...maybe this will be the year the habit sticks and I start doing it year-round..)--Patrick said "read this" and pushed the Sports section at me. "Of Tiger Woods and the man in the mirror" (sorry, I think you have to register (it's free!) on the Washington Post website to read this but it's worth it) is an interesting, if slightly confusing in it's veiled-ness, read. Basically the author is fessing up to his own sex addiction and saying that, in "the culture of the elite athlete...infidelity isn't merely condoned, it's strongly encouraged."

I say bravo to this guy and he's right. He talks about "bored, rich alpha males on the road for 270 days a year" and how infidelity is "an equal-opportunity addiction, costing manicured, polished stars such as Pitino their coiffed reputations and unknown, dumpy software salesmen their families and jobs."

At any rate, it was a good article.

Happy Holidays

I tried to find a really cute Japanese holiday-themed video, but they were all like 5 minutes long and looked more like anime porn clips than cute cartoons so we'll have to make do with this. Just pretend it features a holiday tune and wish yourself a merry Christmas and happy new year from me!

FIO Blogging=Posterous

I have found the winning FIO combo in life: AudioBoo plus Posterous. Audioboo has an iPhone app, which means you just dictate into your phone--as if you're talking on the phone, just to yourself--then it automatically posts the resulting stream-of-conscious genius to Posterous (a FIO version of blogging where you can post via email or voicemail).

The only crying shame of the whole arrangement is that you can't post from Audioboo to Blogger--because if you could you'd be hearing a lot more from me. As it is, I tried it yesterday and posted to Posterous, so I'll have to settle for posting to Posterous than taking the extra step of writing some perfunctory post in here linking to it over there. Like this.

Or you could just subscribe to my Posterous.....

Good Things

Just a few random recommendations for you:

• Awesome blog I just learned about--if you like The Bloggess, you'll want to read More is Better. Because the more hilarious bloggers out there who swear way worse than I personally dare to, the better.


• I'm on disk 9-the last disk--of The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank and I seriously might cry when it's over because it's so good.

I haven't shared any videos lately; let's see what I can find....



Ok, me and my sister might be the only ones who think that's entertaining...now, here's one EVERYONE would find entertaining



Ok, so I made that one and I'm the one who finds it entertaining...better quit while I'm ahead.

My Advice to Tiger Woods

Patrick told me that Tiger Woods has announced that he's taking an "indefinite break" from pro golf because he's so mortified about the world finding out he's a cheater. This is what I have to say to him: who the fuck cares? You are not the first man on the planet to ever be outed as a cheater, a pervert and an asshole. Get over yourself and don't be such a pussy. Moping around your house and/or cowering from the media isn't going to put your marriage and/or family back together and it just diminishes you further in the eyes of the world. Go back to work, act like nothing happened, and next week some other celebrity will do something stupid and we'll all forget your indiscretions.

Guest Post By Matthew

My 11 year-old son is sick with strep...again. I'm sitting with him on the sofa and I asked if he wanted to write a guest post and he said yes, so I'm turning this post over to him:

I'm sick and I don't feel good :( I have been bored ALL DAY LONG. I hope I get better soon. Bye bye.

I'm Ok

I didn't mean to freak anyone out with my last post. Living with depression is like living with diabetes or any other chronic ailment--you get used to it (ok, maybe that's insensitive of me to compare to an illness I've never lived with...you know I don't mean it in a bad way). You have times you feel fine and times you are far from fine, but if you're willing to accept that no, you're not just imagining it and no, you can't just snap out of it and actually address it, you have a way better chance of living a relatively horrible-dip-free existence.

Why am I writing about this all the sudden, anyway? A) because there are so many people blogging about social media that I myself am pretty sick of blogging about it so I'm sure other people are twice as sick of it as I am and b) because I am trying to do my part to de-stigmatize depression. NAMI is the first and only non-professional association I've ever paid to join and I joined because I applaud what they're doing. I am particularly impressed with their Stigma Busters program.

In keeping with my periodic book theme, here are two great books about depression:

1. The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression


2. Unholy Ghost: Writers on Depression

*Disclosure since now it's required by the FTC: I do participate in the Amazon affiliate program; however, I am too lazy to remember how to do their links so these are just plain old links to Amazon--I won't make a penny if you buy the books. And I wish I could say I got either the NAMI membership or the books for free, but nope, no such luck. Isn't blogging a blast when you have to disclose minutiae like this?

Depression Sucks

If you read this blog--or know me in real life--you know I'm a very TMI person (much to the chagrin of my dear mother). My life is an open book for the most part...and not just because I like attention. I actually am a shy-ish person and don't love attention, but one thing I honestly believe is sharing my own experiences if it helps someone else. Because most people don't talk about stuff and suffer in silence, which is heroic and all, but you only live once...why live it in silent desperation when you could just spit out what's troubling you, deal with it and move on?

So it's in this spirit that I'm writing about depression, something I don't really write or talk about but something I deal with. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes it's horrible...and this time of year it usually switches over to some version of horrible. The shorter days or whatever, I guess....all I know is I hate it and wish it was a feeling I'd never experienced. Or that could at least be banished with regular use of the magical pills they make for this purpose. Sadly, though, that's not the case. They work fine...until they suddenly just don't work fine anymore. Which is what's happening in my world right now and it sucks. Nothing like starting a new job, trying to enjoy the coming holidays with my family--oh, and of course dealing with stuff like kids with strep or tooth abscesses or ex-husbands who make you want to pull your hair out but you have to just breathe it out and do nothing because that's what good divorced moms do--then getting knocked down by a big ol' wave of depression.

Dealing with depression--especially when you're a grown up with a job and a husband and kids and a house to keep--is like having a broken leg (or maybe two, depending on how bad it is) and having to walk to the doctor by yourself. While smiling and looking like nothing's wrong with you. You can't tell anyone because of the stigma of mental illness--of craziness. Any other illness people could know what you're going through, could offer to help out or at least give a sympathetic smile or something. Depression, though, you can't talk about it so nobody can know you're suffering--you have to not only figure out a way to get through it, but also have that way include looking 100% normal both at home and at work and not interfere in any way with anything else going on in your life. You can tell your boss you have a stomach flu when you have that, or a sinus infection when you have that--but you can't call in sick with depression. Or I suppose you could...but then good luck to you when they label you crazy and an employment risk.

At any rate, I'll stop now....suffice it to say that depression sucks and someone needs to invent a cure for this shit. Oh, and one that doesn't make you fat or lethargic or anorgasmic or constipated or sahara-mouthed or any of the other charming side effects you get to pick from now.

Gate Crashers

Ok, I'm out of battery so the post I was going to write about those tacky people who crashed the White House will have to wait. But come on...what the hell is wrong with people? Last time I checked we were a nation at war....am I the only one who finds it sickening and sad that what's top news is a sleazy couple crashing a State dinner and posting about it on their Facebook page?

Work-Life Balance and FIO

It's been a really long time since I've blogged about my favorite topic, FIO. (Not sure what FIO means? Clearly you need to do some homework and familiarize yourself with this blog and the dominant theme in my life.)

I have to tell you: lately my blogging has taken a distinct FIO turn. Life is just too busy--I have a new job, kids, housework, a husband, some attempts at a social life that does not take place exclusively online, some semblance of an exercise regimen that I try to stick to, etc. In short: there are only so many hours in a day--24 to be exact. And when 8 of those hours are taken up at work and 2 commuting, that leaves 14 hours. Subtract 7 from that for sleep, and that leaves 7 hours to do all of those things listed above, plus stuff like grocery shop, recreate in some way or another...oh, and keep up with blogging, twitter, Facebook and all the rest of it.

The bottom line? There are not enough hours in the day for me to get everything done that I want to get done. If I didn't care about blogging I'd just forget about it, but for whatever reason blogging is my main favorite thing to do in life. Well, writing is, and since sadly no book deal has magically materialized, blogging is about the only for-fun writing I get to do. Like anything fun that people get addicted to: scrapbooking, working out, shopping, whatever--I have gotten addicted to writing. If I don't do it I start to go crazy and I'm already crazy enough, so I've learned to just make time for it and blog regularly.

The problem is that when you're on a tight schedule like I am, sometimes your blogging suffers. Like maybe the TV is on and you're sitting on the sofa next to your husband, who's giving you the stink-eye worse and worse with every passing minute and you're rushing to finish your post so you can be done with it and he can stop sighing and making snide comments about the computer. Maybe you get distracted, or cut corners on the thought you're trying to work through via that day's blog post. The result is a half-baked blog post at best; and one that's just flat-out wrong or offensive in a way you didn't mean.

My best example of this was when I wrote a post about Chris Brogan and something he said on Twitter. I was rushing to finish because one of the kids was bugging me to HURRY UP AND GET OFF THE COMPUTER so I cut my post off short (I have no idea what it was I cut but I distinctly remember that I had a larger point but I just stopped where I was because I couldn't take the whining anymore). Next thing I know Chris Brogan is tweeting the link to my post and lambasting me in the comments. In that case it worked out ok for me because that was the most blog traffic I have ever gotten, but still, half-baked is half-baked.

So twice in the past week or so I have FIO'd a blog post on my other blog. Read this post--then read the comments. Whoops. Now same thing with the post I wrote yesterday about Comcast and customer service--I meant the post to be about the larger issue of social media and customer service being kind of at odds with each other, with social media being done by people who are truly passionate about their jobs and their companies and customer service people usually, well, not so much. Then Social Media Today picked it up and suddenly a "meh" post in obscurity was seen by thousands of people.

Now Matthew (my 11 year-old son) has strep, I'm sick with something, the work-week has started, Thanksgiving is coming...and I have comments to respond to and need to email the poor Comcast guy to explain that I really didn't mean to take pot shots at him or Comcast in particular--I meant to talk about customer service in general and include other examples like Sprint, etc...but I was pressed for time and hit "publish post" before I'd finished my thoughts.

Sigh. Welcome to my world.

Sunday Catch-Up

Ok--so that last post was a cheat, sorry about that. So much for my blogging every day in November idea...you know the intent was there, right?

Aside from starting a new job last week--which includes a daily round-trip commute to/from Tysons--here's what I've been up to, in case you're wondering:

• My last living grandmother died last Wednesday. Sad but also a relief--she was 97 and was on the decline for years now, then had a stroke a few weeks ago from which she never would have recovered. The good part of it was that it meant my sister, Cassie, came home for the weekend, so we got to spend Friday evening together--a rare treat.


• Speaking of Cassie and Friday, we went to see Precious. Mimi insisted on coming too, which, if you know Mimi, was totally out of character--she's usually not the most social kid on the planet. So I continued my WPE legacy and let her go to see Precious, which was, um, thematically mature, to say the least. For all the hype the movie got I have to say I wasn't that impressed--I gave it about a 6.5. Mo'nique was AWESOME, however.


• I just finished Augusten's new book, You Better Not Cry. It was like an early Christmas gift in its perfection; it's been a while since he's had a book of short stories out and these stories do not disappoint. I'm sad, though, because according to Augusten on Twitter, he and Dennis have broken up. Knowing this, I admit the last story in the book depressed me. But here's hoping for a Christmas miracle that they get back together.


• The main benefit (aside from time to actually have a phone conversation) of a long commute is being able to listen to audiobooks. The multi-tasker in me loves that I'm able to "read" two books at once--one actual book and one audiobook. I just finished Elizabeth Berg's We Are All Welcome Here and highly recommend it. If you need a happy ending to help you get through the holidays (not THAT kind! Nasty.) this is a great choice. Actually, if you want the most relaxing Christmas book EVER, it's Miss Read's Christmas at Thrush Green.


• Speaking of relaxing, my sister introduced me to this website and it's very relaxing in a hypnotic kind of way. If I had any free time, I'd be wasting it playing with that sand.


• 
  

Best Video Ever

I wish to GOD I had a kid who could dance like this:

Fighting for Preemies

Did you know today is National Prematurity Awareness Day?

I am extremely lucky--even though Matthew was born almost 4 weeks early, by some miracle his lungs were fully developed and he suffered no ill effects from being born early (unless you count the fact that he didn't have nipples yet...apparently nipples don't develop until like 38 weeks gestation--bet you didn't know that.) However, he, like Mimi, did suffer from a serious form of jaundice and had to be in the NICU for 3 days. To this day--and that was over 11 years ago--I remember the tiny preemies in their incubators and my heart goes out to anyone who has to go through that.

I add my voice to the over 400 other bloggers who are posting today about the Fight for Preemies. While I was lucky enough to have 2 healthy kids, I know how many others out there are not so lucky. Or who had some really close calls, like my best friend Sadie. At her 20 week ultrasound, the doctor told her everything looked great and was walking out of the room when she happened to glance back over her shoulder. The ultrasound tech had taken one last pass over my friend's abdomen before turning it off and something about the shot caught the doctor's eye. She told the tech hold on, go back. She pressed my friends abdomen and realized with horror that her cervix was almost fully dilated on the inside--the uterus-facing side. Had Sadie gotten up off that table and walked out of that office she would have given birth within a few days and there's no way her baby would have survived.

She spent the weekend on bed rest at home, then returned on Monday for another ultrasound. The dilation was worse and they hospitalized her immediately, where she remained on inverted bed rest for 2 weeks. At about 22 weeks the doctor performed a cerclage--sewed her cervix closed--and sent Sadie home, where she remained on bed rest for 12 more weeks. When she gave birth to full-term baby girl, the doctor confided that when she'd done the cerclage, her cervix had been 100% effaced and dilated and the baby's tiny, tiny feet--encased in the amniotic sac--were protruding into her vagina! The doctor said that there was basically no chance the baby would survive but she had just sewn her up and not said anything, not wanting to upset her. But miracles do happen, and that baby is a healthy, happy kid today, thanks to that doctor's perseverance and Sadie's almost 20 weeks of bed rest.

Blogging for Pay is BS

I know, I know--I'm a hypocrite: I wrote that blogging for money is like making your husband pay you for sex then next thing you know, my other blog, Mizz Information, is sporting shiny new Blogher ads. I know you won't believe me but I was curious to see how much money people actually make running ads so I caved and signed up for Blogher ads because I respect Blogher. I have to say, though, that almost 5 months in I am not impressed with the blogging-for-profit model as it relates to ads.

Here's my problem with it. I know money is changing hands in the whole equation because big brands run Blogher ads: Volvo, Sprint, Sony, Smuckers, Samsung, Phillips, Febreze, Cheer, Nickelodean, Pepperidge Farms, Loreal, Lego, Kraft, Estee Lauder, Ford...these are all actual brands whose ads have been featured on my blog over the past 5 months. I may know little to nothing about advertising but I know this: brands pay big money for it. In magazines, on TV, in newspapers and now, on blogs. I don't know how much they pay but I know this much: it's something.

This is what I do know: the total I've earned for running these big-brand ads on my blog over an almost 5-month period is $18. Actually, I can't really count it as earnings because they don't cut you a check until you reach $25.

I'm torn; on one hand, I don't like that Blogher is presumably making thousands off each of those brands--for all I know, tens of thousands, yet I, the content creator and publisher, am making pennies. At the same time, Blogher does frequently feature my posts at the bottom of the ads, therefore driving traffic to my site, which I do value. But I'm talking single-digit traffic, here; in other words, peanuts in the grand scheme of things.

I guess I need to figure out how important it is to me to have my blog be either ad-free or generating some kind of measurable income; because it's going to have to be one or the other, not both. I'm not in the business of giving huge brands free advertising on my blog--they don't need handouts from me and I don't need to look like a sellout yet having nothing to show for it.

Penelope Trunk....Yes, Again

I'm not even going to bother searching this blog for posts to link to to prove my point that I'm obsessed with Penelope Trunk--if you read regularly you already know and if you don't you'll either have to take my word for it or search yourself. Anyway, my point is--I am obsessed with Penelope Trunk. And my worship of her just got two levels deeper today upon reading these two posts.

I'm telling you--she might be crazy but DAMN she ROCKS.

FauxPaw The Techno Cat

Ok, so yes this is taking the easy way out, but it's 10:20 pm and my idea of a blog post tonight is share the first thing I clicked on from Twitter tonight. Hat tip to Ben Martin's daughter!

It Takes a Village

The one positive aspect of divorce is that, if both you and your spouse are re-married (or re-coupled) there are suddenly four parents in the equation rather than two. Granted, sometimes the merit of that equation is not appreciated by the kids--like when all four of us show up at their sports events. But now that my ex actually speaks to Patrick it's not bad; while we won't be going on double dates anytime soon or having extended "family" dinners together, it's actually quite civil.

Mimi is not one for affection in any case and let's just say the ex's girlfriend has had a hard time of it this past almost-year, since he introduced her to the kids last January. But tonight is a historic night: the night that Mimi voluntarily went somewhere with the girlfriend. Just the two of them. Well, actually, three of them--Mimi brought a friend. What prompted this outing? The girlfriend managed to get tickets to the Miley Cyrus concert.

Now, that right there is proof that there is something to be said for having two mother-figures, because I'm telling you right now: hell would FREEZE OVER before I'd take her to a Miley Cyrus concert. Or any other concert, for that matter.

Hopefully Mimi will realize how hard this woman is trying and cut her some slack.

Not a Novel But....

Ok, so I can't commit to National Novel Writing Month....maybe I'll try National Blog Posting Month and actually post in here this month.

Unfortunately for you it will probably be about stuff like the fact that, despite trying my best to fight it, I remain shamefully obsessed with Jon and Kate. I don't watch the show anymore--the show itself actually sucks--but have been sucked into the tabloid drama of them. I'm telling you--it's the hair. People joke about her hair and say how horrible it is--for some reason I'm obsessed with it. The hair, the drama...it's just all so addictive for some reason.

Anyway, I usually don't watch the show--I don't like to give TLC the satisfaction of counting me as a viewer because I think the whole thing (despite my obsession) is horseshit. I guess it's the breaking up of their family that plays on my divorce guilt strings or something, because I am weirdly emotionally tied to their breakup--I feel personally let down and violated even though these may as well be cartoon characters. Maybe it's easier to watch other people go through divorce and feel sad than to look at your own situation too closely.

At any rate, I made the mistake of watching Kate--Her Story tonight. Mistake because a) her hair is all messed up and I'm sad about it; b) TLC got the satisfaction of sucking me in despite my best intentions to forever avoid tuning into that channel and c) because it's impossible to feel sympathy or harbor anything approximating a good feeling for Kate when you hear her talk. I try to believe she honestly cares about what's best for her kids--god knows she pays constant lip-service to it--but she is just so caught up in the fame and the money that it is painfully obvious that lip-service is all it is.

I had to turn it off when she pulled out photos of the kids she barely sees anymore since she's so busy with her public speaking, TV appearances, etc--and started going on about how can anyone question her devotion to her kids--after all, from the time she was 7 weeks pregnant till she was 30 weeks, she was on constant bedrest and didn't even EAT certain foods for fear of it harming her precious babies. Come on, lady--are you kidding me? She then went on to say that she HAS to continue doing TV because it is the ONLY way she can support her family. She literally said that it is her ONLY career option. Whatever--don't ask me why it riles me up so much but it does. Something about the whole situation just pushes my buttons. I swear it's enough to send me back to therapy....if only I had the time.

Boo

What's new with you? Here's what's new with me:

• Successfully dodged my least favorite holiday--Halloween--last night.


• I have a new job--starting Nov. 9. Woo hoo!


• Augusten has a new book: You Better Not Cry. I am torn between trying to plow through the stash of books accumulating on my nightstand and buying his book today and putting it at the top of the pile. The pile might tip over, however.


• November is National Novel Writing Month. What's the percent chance I write one? I'd say about zero. But maybe I'll surprise you. My sister Cassie is writing one, though, so all will not be lost if I don't.


• I'm feeling very fancy today because if you do a search for "social media salaries" on Twitter right now, every single tweet is about the blog post I wrote. Gotta get your thrills in life somehow, right?


• If you were impressed by that last bullet point, here's my other recent claim to fame: I am featured in an interview in this month's issue of Associations Now magazine.


• Over the past 24 hours, I've developed an increasingly-annoying twitch in my lower left eyelid. What's up with that? I pray it doesn't turn into the year and a half long saga my last eye twitch did.


• I need to turn off this computer and get my ass on the treadmill.